The applicant, a world leader in nanopositioner design, has been selling piezoelectric nanopositioning systems under the brand Queensgate Instruments.
The applicant's current generation of devices can position to sub-nanometer resolution, but there is a continuing desire to improve the designs. The parameters which are relevant to an improved design include resonant frequency (the frequency at which the stage becomes unstable), bandwidth (the frequency at which the stage can still be driven and maintain accuracy), resolution (in part determined by sensor resolution), speed of motion, travel range, settle time, linearity, rotational error, thermal drift, and maximum stage load. Optimising some of these parameters involves trade-offs but there is a general need for performance improvement.